Because of You
by allthefeelsallofthem
Summary: During a fight Black Beetle shots Bart, possibly fatally. Furious, Jaime takes him on, desperately worried for his friend. *I promise not to break your heart like Cartoon Network has been doing on a continual basis*


AN: Today's episode didn't happen. Also the title has nothing to do with Kelly Clarkson.

Jaime didn't see the cannon blast, didn't notice Black Beetle preparing to fire, didn't react in time to do anything about it. All he heard was Bart scream in agony as he fell to the ground, clutching at his chest where his suit was burned away. The cry also came through the mental link, so strongly that, in his peripheral vision, he saw M'gann flinch and be struck down by one of the many guards. After that the mental link vanished. That hardly registered for him though. His vision had tunneled, seeing only the slight boy shaking on the ground, holding up a hand as if it would protect him from Black Beetle, who was approaching with a smile on his face, his weaponized arm readying for the finishing blow.

Something inside Jaime snapped, and he charged, shoving the Reach soldier away from his friend. Black Beetle only laughed, turning his cannon on Jaime instead. He dodged the shot, jumping to the side in an attempt to get the other beetle to turn and put Bart out of the line of fire. Remembering the Green Beetle's advice he set his own cannon to a high intensity, low frequency blast and fired. The shot hit Black Beetle across the shoulder and he scowled, but didn't seem to take much damage. Jaime tried again, but barely grazed his opponent before being attacked himself. Black Beetle had put away his cannon and instead had altered his armour into something like a stag's prongs, using them to trap Jaime and begin to mercilessly beat him. Though his armour gave good protection, Jaime felt each and every blow before summoning a cannon on his chest to blast away his attacker. Freed, but also suddenly unsupported, he swayed slightly, off-balance.

_Jaime Reyes, you are not fit to continue this fight. Give me control. I will not allow us to fail._

Jaime shook his head, not so much in disagreement as in shock and denial. "But will you allow me to return?"

_Yes._

His momentary pause had Black Beetle enough time to get up, and Jaime suddenly found himself thrown against the wall of the embassy's auditorium. His head hit hard, and for a second his vision went black. He knew the scarab was right –he couldn't keep this up for much longer. He had already taken damage earlier that night, and it was catching up to him. He couldn't even count on the Green Beetle for help, as he was on the other side of the country in Washington State on a separate mission. Conflicted, he glanced around and saw Bart, who was lying on the ground in the fetal position and didn't appear to be conscious. Or even ali –he stopped that thought before it could finish forming. Bart was going to be fine. He _had _to be. Suddenly Jaime realized something that he had been repressing for quite some time.

He loved Bart.

And there was no way in hell he was allowing Black Beetle to hurt him again. No matter what it took. So he spoke the words he had been afraid to say since the battle on the Reach's ship.

"Do it."

There was a strange noise, almost a whirring, in his head, and suddenly he no longer had control over his body. Reduced to a spectator, he watched as he again charged Black Beetle, this time sprouting extra mechanical appendages that flickered with energy, shocking his enemy every time they made contact. Black Beetle seemed to realize what was different and chuckled, causing Jaime to feel as if the blood in his veins had frozen. Had he made a mistake? Was this how the Reach got him on mode?

_He is using an intimidation tactic, Jaime Reyes. Do not allow it to affect your system, as it will compromise your reaction time._

Well that was almost close to being comforting. The scarab caused them to take flight, shooting down. The other beetle pursued, driving Jaime down to a large balcony. They circled each other for a few seconds, and then, almost simultaneously, began to build up the massive frontal cannons that Jaime remembered from the last time this had happened. He also remembered how that had ended, how he had been blown backwards into the freezing water. He would not allow that to happen this time though. More lives were at stake than just his own. Only a small team was here at one of the embassies in New York (he had lost track of which one after blasting through or being blasted through so many buildings), himself, Bart, Miss Martian, Arsenal, Bumblebee, and Robin. Bumblebee and Robin had ran off after a group of Reach aliens who had been trying to escape the attack with several boxes of something that Jaime's scanner had detected to be not from this planet, and now Miss Martian and Bart were both down and vulnerable. He could still hear Arsenal attacking below, but if he was honest he didn't know how much he trusted his teammate to look after the others, or even to keep his head and properly protect himself against harm. If he couldn't defeat Black Beetle all four of them would probably be done for.

Realizing this, he focused all of his emotions into the charge building in his cannon. Anger at his opponent and at the Reach, fear for the others, and a desperate need for Bart to still be alive, for them to have the chance to build a future that didn't end in ruin.

_This strategy is working, despite making no logical sense. Continue channeling your thoughts and…_ he heard the scarab pause, sounding slightly contemptuous but in a way that seemed more out of habit that anything else _…feelings into the attack._

So Jaime did. He remembered meeting Bart, remembered all the bags of Chicken Whizzes the speedster had stolen or begged from him, remembered racing wings against feet in countless desert races, remembered all the movie marathons to give Bart some idea of the culture that had been lost, remembered Bart phasing into his room and shaking him awake in the middle of the night with some lame excuse that Jaime knew was an attempt to hide the terrible nightmare his friend had just had and needed to forget. He thought of Bart's smile, not the huge one he wore as part of his mask but the real one, much smaller and shyer, that he only ever gave when he was with Jaime.

His armour responded, and he could feel the blast building in his cannon increase. Suddenly Black Beetle fired and the scarab followed suit. When the two blasts collided they seemed to fuse into one massive ball of energy, and Jaime felt himself be pushed back by the raw power.

_More power is needed to become the victor, Jaime Reyes._

Jaime's mind went into overdrive. More? Suddenly his ears, their hearing amplified by the suit, picked up a low groan from below. And then–

"Blue?"

His heart stopped beating for a second. Bart was alive he was alive _hewasalive_. The relief would have driven him to his knees if he still controlled his body. Instead he tried to concentrate it on the energy bulge that was slowly moving along the cannon blast towards him. Before his disbelieving eyes it halted and reversed its movement, picking up speed and ramming into Black Beetle. The explosion blew Jaime off of his feet, throwing him into the balcony railing. It prevented him from falling, but from in front of him he heard a crack as it gave way, then a crash as his enemy landed.

Had he managed to actually finish off the other beetle?

The scarab seemed to sense his question.

_I do not think he has been terminated. However he is likely unconscious, which will allow me to incapacitate him._

Jaime felt his wings unfold and watched as he flew down to the ground where Black Beetle was lying, seeming to have been knocked out by the blast. His suit had semi-retracted, exposing the Reach warrior's skin. The scarab took advantage of this, placing Jaime's hands on his bare chest and firing a substantial electric charge.

_Before you begin to lecture me, Jaime Reyes, know that I have not killed him. The shock will alter his body differently than that of a human, keeping him unconscious for at least three days and allowing your "friends" to search his mind and learn of his plan. However we cannot leave him here; the balcony has become unstable and will soon collapse on top of us._

This was accompanied by a groan from the wood above. Through Jaime the scarab grabbed Black Beetle's arm, pulling it over their shoulders while giving the suit an extra appendage to wrap around the other's waist so that the body could be dragged instead of having to carry all the weight. After a few steps the scarab confirmed that they were clear of the fall zone and looked around, spotting Bart next to a nearby pile of wreckage.

Every cell in his body was screaming for him to rush over and check on his friend, and the scarab complied. Suddenly he saw a guard coming around the same pile, gun pointed at Bart. The rest of the guards were busy trying to take down Arsenal, but this one had found a much easier target, one who was barely conscious, eyes closed and covered by the blood running down his face from a cut on his forehead.

No way in hell was Jaime letting him fire that gun. Again the scarab seemed to be of one mind, raising his arm and shooting the guard down while continuing forward. He was almost there when he saw Bart's eyes had opened and were wide with horror.

_The threat appears to have been dealt with Jaime Reyes._

There was an uncomfortable tingling in Jaime's body, and then he had control over it once more.

"_Gracias._" He hadn't been entirely sure the scarab would relinquish control.

_I keep my promises, Jaime Reyes._

He looked down at Bart again, and saw that he still looked terrified. "No..." was all his friend managed to say before his eyes rolled back and he passed out again.

_No?_ Jaime wondered. What was going on? He swung around quickly, pointing the still activated hand cannon behind them in case they had been snuck up on. But no one was there. He continued looking and saw only Arsenal, who had taken care of the guards and was shaking M'gann in an attempt to wake her.

Then suddenly it hit him. His cannon was still activated. Black Beetle still hung off of him, held up by Jaime's suit's arm. Bart, who had been half blinded by the blood in his eyes, had probably registered only that his friend was far too close to their enemy and had a cannon pointed in his direction. Not only that, but (according to the others) when the scarab took control last time his eyes had glowed white. Bart must have seen that and assumed the worst. Disgusted with himself that he hadn't dumped Black Beetle on the ground as soon as possible Jaime pushed him to the side and finally ran to Bart.

"How is he?" Arsenal yelled over as he helped M'gann to her feet.

"I...I don't know."

"Well grab him and let's head out." Arsenal came closer and saw Black Beetle sprawled across the floor.

"Well, shit."

Jaime rubbed his eyes, trying to get them to focus properly after being awake for so long. Despite assurances from the doctors that Bart would be fine and that there was no need to worry he couldn't leave the hospital room. He had to be there when the speedster woke up in order to explain what had happened so that Bart wouldn't freak out, thinking Jaime was on mode, then rush off and do something stupid.

Bart suddenly stirred, and Jaime leaned forward, hoping he would finally wake up after being out for almost a day and a half.

"Bart?"

At the sound of his voice Bart suddenly moved faster than Jaime could see and sat up straight, every muscle in his body tense.

"_Hermano_, calm down. It's me." He remembered the reaction the last time he had said that –_of course it is_. This time, however, he didn't seem to be as convincing. Bart's face was guarded, his emotions hidden, but Jaime thought he could see fear lurking just below the surface.

"Is it? Then why were you and Black Beetle going to shot me?" The mask cracked a bit, and his voice trembled. Jaime quickly explained what happened, but Bart still didn't seem convinced.

"You defeated Black Beetle? No offense dude, but that just doesn't seem likely. "

Jaime sighed. "I know that. But I couldn't let him win. There was too much at stake."

"Yeah yeah, fate of the world and all that. Wouldn't want you to go on mode." This was accompanied by a very suspicious glare, and Jaime realized there was only one way to convince him.

"It wasn't about the fate of the world."

"What then?"

He took a deep breath, and, almost reflexively, took Bart's hand. The other boy's eyes went wide, the mask falling away to be replaced by surprise.

"It was about you. I didn't know…didn't know if you were even alive. But I had to protect you, save you, and, well…that gave me the strength I needed."

"I didn't realize you cared that much" Bart joked nervously, his free hand twisting the bed sheet.

Jaime caught it and gently disentangled it from the sheet. "Of course I do." He took a deep breath. "I love you."

For the first time Jaime saw a speedster go completely still. Bart's mouth was hanging open a bit and there was an expression of disbelief on his face that would have been comical if not for the serious situation. Jaime squeezed his hands.

"Bart?"

He was trying to think of something else to say when suddenly his lips were made busy with something else. Moving at super speed Bart had lunged forward and kissed him. For a second it was Jaime's turn to be frozen, then he relaxed and kissed the other boy back, letting go of one of his hands so that he could cup the back of Bart's head and pull him closer. Bart responded eagerly, grabbing the front of Jaime's shirt and yanking him out of the chair and on top of him. Jaime landed awkwardly, bumping his forehead on Bart's chin and breaking the kiss. He propped himself up on his arms, looking down at his best friend, and started to laugh. Bart joined in, and Jaime lowered himself to lie beside the other boy, wrapping an arm around him as they both shook with laughter.

"It is you."

"I told you it was! And you didn't believe me." Jaime pretended to look angry for a second, then gave up and kissed Bart's nose. Bart adorably scrunched up his face, then frowned.

"I didn't know…I was so scared that I had lost you." His voice broke, and a few tears ran down his face. Jaime gently brushed them away with his fingers, pulling Bart close so that the speedster's head was leaning against his chest.

"I won't leave you. Ever." He stroked the other boy's hair as Bart continued to cry, knowing that he needed it to release all his pent up feelings. After a while Bart calmed down, and they both began to fall asleep in each other's arms. Jaime thought Bart was already out and was about to drift off himself when he heard

"I love you too."

When the Garricks came in a few hours later to check on Bart they found him fast asleep, cuddled up in the arms of his best friend, a smile on both their faces.

AN: No, it's not character death. I was eating ice cream while I wrote this, so it had to be happy. It also kind of gets cheesy as fuck, please forgive me. I finished this after midnight and, well….good enough.

(If anyone read between the lines there the message was that if you want me to write more (happyending!) bluepulse you should give me food. I like chocolate. Also cake. And pie. Pie is good. And not a lie.)

(Dammit that rhymed I hate it when that happens)

(I'm a poet and I didn't know it)

Harry Potter/Voldemort style fight scene anyone? Whoops :P

Btw I've got a few other bluepulse fics half started in my writing folder which I will finish and post soon, so if you'd like to read more please follow me! :)


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